One day after being detained for having 150,000 illegal fentanyl pills during a California traffic stop, two alleged drug dealers were freed, according to authorities.
After being found in possession of $750,000 worth of fentanyl pills, Jose Zendejas, 25, and Benito Madrigal, 19, both from Washington, were arrested and taken to the Tulare County Pre-Trial Facility.
A day after their arrest on Saturday, the two were released from custody on Monday, according to a court order, the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office reported.
The two men were ordered to be released, but sheriff Mike Boudreaux “strongly disagrees,” claiming it is a matter of public safety. He was made to follow the court order without his input.
‘All inmates booked into Tulare County jails are sent through what is known as the Risk Assessment Process through the Tulare County Probation Department,’ police said. That “Risk Assessment” is then sent to a judge with the court, who, then, determines whether or not the individual arrested is held on bail or if they are to be released.
The two were deemed fit for release by Commissioner Mikki Verissimo, who answers to the judge of the Tulare County Superior Court.
Tim Ward, the district attorney for Tulare County, has not responded to the release, but according to his office, they were not involved in the decision-making process used by the Tulare County Probation Department.
The DA’s office reports that the two men will appear in court once more on July 21.
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According to the California Department of Public Health, the powerful drug, which is more potent than heroin and morphine, is a major cause of fatal overdoses across the state.
According to the most recent data from the CDPH, fentanyl-related deaths ‘increased at an unpredictable pace in 2020’ with 3,946 overdoses.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, fentanyl is currently categorized as a Schedule II drug with a “high potential for abuse which may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence.”
Fentanyl possession is currently only considered a misdemeanor crime in the state.
Legislators in California have been urging harsher penalties and issuing warnings about the deadly fentanyl crisis that is poisoning children across the state.
Some state legislators tried to pass legislation in April of this year to make it a crime to have two grams or more of fentanyl on your person. Legislators attempted to reclassify fentanyl as a Schedule I drug along with meth and heroin in the same bill, but they were unsuccessful.
If passed, traffickers would have been sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for selling lethal amounts of fentanyl.
Republicans and Democrats have both made efforts to address the fentanyl crisis, but some of their fellow party members contend that tougher penalties are not the answer.
Several district attorneys in the Democratic state have drawn criticism for their lax approaches to combating crime.
George Gascon, the district attorney for Los Angeles, is currently up for recall after promising to take a different approach to incarceration when he was elected to office in 2020.
Gascon has implemented numerous criminal justice reforms, and the results have been terrible for crime victims.
Gascon is held accountable for the surge in violent crime, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who has consistently criticized Gascon.
According to Villanueva, his office has stopped over 13,000 cases from being sent to the district attorney’s office because they don’t adhere to Gascon’s crime policies. This was reported by Fox News.
Early in June, following a rise in crime in the city, San Francisco’s progressive district attorney Chesa Boudin was called back.
This year, statistics show that the crime wave has worsened from last year – one of the worst crime years in decades – with city’s murder rate rising 11 percent, and rapes up by nearly 10 percent.
The city has also suffered from an increase in homelessness and open-air drug use since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.